Listed firms report strong profits in Q1

The profits of listed companies on Seoul’s main bourse increased in the first quarter compared to a year ago, and they surged when excluding Samsung Electronics, which ranks No.1 by market capitalization.

The Korea Exchange and Korea Listed Companies Association on Monday released a survey of the financial statements of 501 companies on the benchmark Kospi whose fiscal year ended in December.

Combined revenue in the first quarter shrank 5.78 percent from the previous year to 432.8 trillion won ($398 billion). However, operating profit grew 7.09 percent to 27.3 trillion won, while net profit increased 3.79 percent to 20.9 trillion won.

Excluding Samsung Electronics, combined revenue of the listed companies shrank nearly 5 percent, but operating profit grew 24.5 percent and net profit 29.5 percent.

Profits in financial industries improved significantly. The operating profits of 47 financial companies increased 35.8 percent, while net profits surged 39.7 percent.

Brokerage firms, which underwent major restructuring due to falling profits last year, saw operating profits surge 221 percent, while net profits shot up 306 percent.

Things were different on the secondary Kosdaq market.

In the first three months, the total revenue of the companies on the tech-heavy Kosdaq increased 3.45 percent compared to a year ago to 29.6 trillion won. Operating profits grew 8.05 percent year-on-year to 1.52 trillion won.

However, net profits shrank 11.15 percent to 983.2 billion won.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]